DEEP BRAIN STIMULATION NEWS: Brain waves reveal intensity of pain - San Diego, CA

[brain]

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Brain waves reveal intensity of pain

Excerpts:

Recordings from electrodes in the human
brain may offer the first objective way to measure
the intensity of pain. Researchers say that
they have found a neural signal that correlates
with the amount of pain that an individual
feels.

Single cells have previously been identified
in the human brain that are active in pain, but
their response is binary, signalling either pain
or no pain. Now, Morten Kringelbach of the
psychiatry department at the University of
Oxford, UK, and his colleagues have identified
low-frequency brain waves that emanate
from two regions buried deep within the brain
when a patient is in pain. The more pain that is
experienced, the longer the waves last.

Kringelbach’s team recorded activity from
two electrodes positioned in the thalamus and
the periaqueductal grey area of 12 awake people
who had been undergoing deep-brain stimulation
(DBS) for chronic pain. During the
recording, the team touched either a painful or
pain-free area of the patients’
bodies and had patients rate
their pain every minute. The
duration of the waves — dubbed
“pain spindles” — correlated
with how intensely the patients
felt their pain. “It is an objective
measure that correlates with a subjective measure,”
says Kringelbach, who presented the findings
at the Society for Neuroscience meeting in
San Diego, California, last week.

The next step is to try to record the signals
with a non-invasive technique, such as magnetoencephalography,
which measures electrical
activity in the brain via changes in the magnetic
field. This could allow pain monitoring in a
much broader range of patients.

[Birdbomb]

Where do I sign up! I'll let them measure my pain!

[Bernard]

[brain]

@ Bernard

You are too much sometimes!

[Shelley]

Gotta be a member and pay. Aint got that kind of money.